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Environmental Federalism and the Second Trump Administration
Abstract: Rolling back federal environmental standards while also seeking broad federal preemption of state environmental regulation, the Second Trump Administration is replacing a dynamic example of federalism with a regulatory void. This talk will explore the deeper consequences of Trump 2.0’s "null set environmental federalism” beyond the immediate effects of litigation and regulatory uncertainty, from how it upends traditional justifications for federal environmental regulation, provides warning lessons for future state environmental policymakers and is arguably fueling the new NIMBYism we are witnessing with respect to hyper scale data centers.
Kirsten Engel is a Professor of Law at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law where she teaches and researches in the areas of environmental and administrative law. Much of her scholarship addresses theories of environmental federalism and the constitutional and economic challenges states face mitigating climate change in the absence of comprehensive federal climate change legislation.
Engel is the co-author of an environmental law textbook, and numerous book chapters and articles. Her work appears in journals such as the UCLA Law Review Discourse, the Minnesota Law Review, and the Ecology Law Quarterly.
Engel has held numerous positions within state government, academia and in the public and nonprofit sectors. Between 2017-2021, Engel served as an elected member of the Arizona legislature and is currently leading an environmental unit in the Arizona Office of Attorney General while on a temporary leave from the University.
Prior to joining the law faculty at the University of Arizona, Engel held positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Massachusetts' Attorney General's Office, and Harvard, Vanderbilt, and Tulane Law Schools.
Audience: Open to all- including community members, alumni, students, and employees